Lone Pine Creek (Kaweah River Tributary)

The bridge crossing over Lone Pine Creek is a noteworthy viewpoint along the High Sierra Trail. Beneath it, an older bridge is lodged against a giant chokestone after being blown out by an avalanche. Below that Lone Pine Creek cuts a deep gorge beneath the trail before dropping to the Middle Fork of the Kaweah with a steep falls. Lone Pine Creek is awesome, though likely not worth the backcountry expedition on its own. I recommend a trip out the High Sierra Trail including Lone Pine Creek, Upper, and Lower Buck Canyons. These canyons have fairly large, high elevation drainages, and are best saved for late in the season. You don't want to hike all the way out there and find too much water to descend! Note that most of the canyon is quite visible from the trail. Please make your anchors discrete.

Hike out the High Sierra Trail 2 miles East from Bearpaw Meadow to the bridge over Lone Pine Creek. Cross the bridge, then turn left toward Elizabeth Pass. An unmarked junction just upstream turns left down to an old bridge (not the same one lodged in the canyon) and makes for your entry point.

Boulder hop downstream. A first drop down large boulders with falls will need to be rappelled. A second can likely be jumped, or could be rappelled as well. From here you can climb down beneath the bridge up above. Another rappel takes you down a wall of crumbly rock, following where the canyon narrows. After this rappel, the canyon gets even more narrow, down into a small crack for the next drop. Anchor off a tree up to the right. Fun to rappel at low water, but with too much water you would need to rappel to the side. Below here is a large boulder, below which you will find a short rappel through a falls, and the final drop of 200 feet to the bottom.

Boulder hop downstream for a good long while. When the canyon opens up, cut right into the open pine forest and continue downstream through the woods. This is about 2 miles from the last rappel to the trail up to Bearpaw, but it will feel a bit longer. The trail you connect to is not as worn in as many NPS trails, but is still quite obvious. Take this trail up 3/4 of a mile to the right to the junction with the Middle Fork Trail, and then head right another 1.6 miles to Bearpaw Meadow.